


Goodbye, Mr. Flower Thief

by hecklep



Category: Homestuck
Genre: M/M, Multi, an au where sburb didnt happen, and john and jade are siblings and own a flower shop, its for plot i swear, jade is older than john, more will be explained soon, thats all for now, they live by the ocean oops
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-04-08 17:45:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14110689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hecklep/pseuds/hecklep
Summary: John Egbert is a normal 16 year old boy who lives with his sister, Jade, and they both own a flower shop in a town by the ocean.John has led a peaceful, mundane, even, life in the small town they called home, but he’s never one to complain.He’s got his friends all here.All the serenity changes on what appeared to be a regular summer day.And it all started with the stranger knocking over the pot of sunflowers.





	1. First

**Author's Note:**

> hello,  
> i hope they’re not too ooc? i’ve had this idea for a while now, so i hope it goes along smoothly,  
> i will update from time to time tho  
> -  
> callie

A young man stands, not in his bedroom, but outside the floral shop him and sister owned, humming to himself as he readjusted the pot of flowers that was brought in today.

Actually, they were supposed to arrive earlier in the week, but Jade had forgotten to pick them up so they had to order more because the last ones wilted. Good ‘ol Jade.

The sound of bike wheels thudding on the stony pavement reached his line of hearing, so he turned around just as Jade skidded to a halt in front of him. She gave him a big smile and an even bigger hug, only letting him go after she deciphered John’s grunts as “please let me go I can’t breathe”. “So, how’re the arrangements going?” She asks, looking past his head to the table besides the large window at the front of their shop.  
“They’re going pretty well. Hey, you think Rose would like these?” He pipes up, trudging over to a bouquet of spare flowers he had made a few hours ago. He took the bouquet and made his way back to Jade, holding it under her watchful eye. “Those look great-hey, actually, I came over to grab my reminders. I’m going to pass by Rose’s on the way to the dock to pick up that new shipment we have, want me to take those there for her?” Jade offered. John nodded excitedly, his shimmering blue eyes shining. “That’d be great!”

Once Jade got her list and waved goodbye to John before hopping back on her bike and wheeling away, the younger boy took a small break from rearranging flowers, walking inside and pulled off his rubber gardening gloves, setting them on the counter. He’d brush the dirt off the countertop later.  
He took a seat on the chair behind the desk, closing his eyes and taking a small breather as fresh sunlight filtered through the glass of the front store window, the soft breeze swaying the wind chimes outside that him and Jade had made around two months ago.

John felt himself just about drifting off to sleep but the sound of ceramics crashing jolted him awake with a yelp. He shot up, jostling his glasses in the process as he ran outside.  
One of the pots had fallen over. He noted that it was the pot of sunflowers that had just arrived yesterday. John’s brow furrowed, upset, but a dart of movement from the nearby alley grabbed his attention. He quickly jogged over to inspect it but found nothing, much to his disappointment. He dejectedly walked back to the mess of broken ceramic shards and dirt, scratching the back of his head. “Oh, jeez..” He muttered, speedwalking inside to retrieve his gloves to clean the mess up. How should he explain this to Jade-?

“What happened?”  
His sister asked, leaning against the kitchen table.  
It was currently in the evening, and the two had closed down shop and retreated into the apartment upstairs that they both lived in.  
John sucked in a breath, hoping she’d believe him. “Well, I went inside for a breather and then I heard this crash outside,” He began. Jade nodded slowly, urging him to keep going. “When I went outside to look at what happened there was nobody there, so I don’t know who did it.” He finished, sheepishly looking askance for a moment.  
Jade sighed, going over to him and ruffling his hair. “We just got those yesterday, too. We’ll just have to make do.” She gave him another one of her perky smiles, which instantly made him feel better. Jade had a way of doing that.  
“You should go to bed.” A glance at the wall clock told John that it was only 9:34 PM, but he complied anyways-he wasn’t really in the mood for an argument. 

He went off to his room, shutting the door behind him. He stayed with his back against the door for a while, before peeling himself off and looked outside from his open window.  
The ocean was glittering in the distance, and the ferries at the dock were blissfully silent. John propped his elbow on the windowsill and put his chin in the palm of his hand, taking in the slightly salty sea-air.  
Before leaving though, he caught a glimpse of glowing lamplike eyes that reflected in the darkness. Strangely enough, he didn’t find it eerie. It was actually..somewhat comforting in a way.  
He squinted to get a better look but it had disappeared as fast as it had materialized. John rubbed his eyes, deciding that he was probably just tired. He changed into his pyjamas, and placed his phone on his bedstand besides the old stuffed rabbit that his good pal Dave had gotten him on his 13th birthday.  
He settled under his covers, the afterimage of the glowing yellow eyes burned into his eyelids.


	2. Second

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which John meets a stranger.

The following morning, John was late waking up.  
Very, very late.  
When he rose out of bed, rubbing his eyes and fumbling for his glasses, he saw the pale orange streaks of the fading sunlight painted across the walls of his bedroom.  
His eyes widened behind the lenses of his glasses as he glanced at the clock on his bedside table.  
‘10:32 AM.’  
Oh God. He prayed that Jade would forgive him for this one-as nice and caring a person his sister is, he did not want to get on her bad side, especially on things like this.  
He hurried downstairs (after getting dressed hastily, not to mention almost tripping over himself getting his shorts on), only to skid to a halt when he saw Jade slumped over on the table, snoring softly.  
She had her face buried in her arms as John crept over, blinking as he inspected her to make sure she was still breathing.  
Once John was sure she was alive and not dead, he gave a heavy sigh and looked outside the window.  
Often times, Jade would pass out in the afternoons-either because she was tired, or because she was having another bout of her narcolepsy.  
John guessed it was the latter.  
Considering the time, and the fact that Jade was out cold, John decided to not to open the shop today.  
He stared at her for a moment before grabbing the notepad and pen Jade kept on top of the fridge and scribbled a quick note explaining why he was gone to Jade, and slipped it besides her before heading off to the front of their apartment/store.  
He decided against using Jade’s bike without her permission and instead headed off manually towards the dock, which was where he usually spent his free time.

Upon arrival there, he took a seat by the shore, tucking his legs up and propping his chin on his knees, his arms loosely wrapped around his ankles.  
Often times, John was alone, and he didn’t seem to mind.  
He stared out at the lowering sun over the sparkly waves, taking in the smell of sea-air.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of someone else.  
Grey skin wasn’t an uncommon sight for him, considering a lot of his friends were trolls but they were still a marvel to behold.  
Messy black hair with the tips of horns just barely poking through them, thick eyebrows that looked permanently angry...they could be anyone, really.  
But the glowing yellow sclera of their eyes was unmistakable.

John frowned, slowly rising as he tentatively called out.  
“Hey..”  
One of the other person’s ears twitched as they heard him. They turned to face him and once they did a look of shock rippled through their face and in no time flat they were running away before John could even comprehend what was happening.  
The black-haired boy blinked before hastily chasing after them, his shoes sinking into the sand.  
“Hey, wait-“  
Somehow, he was able to keep up with the person despite how fast they were.

After running into one of the alleyways after them he tripped over one of the pebbles, and ended up falling face first.  
The good news was John had fallen on top of the person he was chasing after too. (Score!)  
A low hiss came from below him, along with a lot of struggling. (Jeez, John could barely keep them down.) “Get the fuck off of me!” Okay, the voice was definitely male.  
“What the fuck do you want? I don’t have jack shit!” John frowned, sitting on the stranger’s legs instead to get a better look at him (and to prevent escape).  
The stranger’s face was contorted into a look of disgust and distaste, and not even John could blame him for that.  
“I don’t want anything, I just wanted to know if-“ “  
I don’t know who you are! Get off me!”  
“No! Look, I just wanted to know if you were the eyes I saw outside my window last night!” John interjected, his blue eyes staring straight at the goldenrod pair in front of him.  
“What? Hell no! I don’t even fucking know who the fuck you are, why in the hell would I be doing outside your fucking window?!”  
He hissed, squinting at John in a ‘what the fuck is wrong with you’ sort of way.  
“Yeah, well, if you didn’t know me, then why’d you run away?” John countered, and his eyes lit up triumphantly when he noticed that the other’s expression had faltered just a little. “Aha! So you do know me!” “No! I don’t, it’s just-fuck!”  
Gee, he sure did swear a lot.  
“...okay, if you get off me, will you let me explain?”  
“Only if you swear not to bolt when or if I do.”  
“Son of a-okay, I swear I’m not hightailing the fuck out of here when or if you get off of my legs.”  
John considered this for a moment, then slowly got off the stranger’s legs and stood up, staring him in the eye.  
Surprisingly, he did not actually bolt.  
Instead, he got up and dusted himself off, growling insults and revealing he was about an inch or two taller than John which surprised the boy, since he seemed to be able to pin the other down so easily.  
“Explain-I’m waiting.” John said after a short pause.  
“Fine. I just-I got scared when I saw you because you looked like the guy that was in front of the floral place yesterday. I knocked over one of the goddamn pots there and I sure as fuck didn’t want to get in trouble for it.”  
John frowned, not only because that was kind of a shitty excuse but also because something in the other’s eyes said he wasn’t being completely honest.  
Nonetheless, John decided to believe him.

“Jeez. If you’d just stopped to explain I would have forgiven you.” He muttered, huffing.  
The stranger looked offended as he hissed at him, folding his arms over his chest.  
“Oh fuck off, you probably would have done the same thing.”  
Awkward silence settled between the two of them before John piped up. “So I, uh, never got your name-?”  
He held out his hand for the other to shake. “My name’s John. John Egbert.”  
The stranger looked at his hand for a little. After a short pause, he begrudgingly took it.  
John noted that his hand was rather cold in comparison to his own.  
“Karkat. Karkat Vantas.” The other muttered, barely audible for John to hear.  
The smaller boy shot him with a smile. “Karkat. Rolls off the tongue. I like it.”  
He only responded with a huff.  
Even more awkward silence.  
“Er...see you around, I guess?” John tried, looking up at him.  
“Sure.” Karkat grunted, shifting his feet and walking away without another word.  
John frowned.  
He was rather ornery-but he found that interesting.  
He hoped he’d meet him again soon-his gut told him there were lots of things to discover about the troll, and he sure did want to know what they were.

Upon getting back home (it was 5:23 when he arrived), he noticed Jade was no longer asleep on the table, and was now seated on the couch with the TV on.  
“Hi,” John said once he was inside, kicking off his shoes and getting comfy besides his sister, placing his head on her lap as the TV played something obscure. “Where’d you go? You look-uh, knocked up.” Jade questioned, lifting an eyebrow.  
“Uh. Had an adventure.” John mumbled, not wanting to explain further.  
Something told him Karkat didn’t want what happened disclosed to anyone.  
Jade caught the tone of his voice and decided not to press any further.  
“...summer’s been dragging out pretty long, huh?” Jade said after a while, leaning back into the cushions.  
“Yeah.” John agreed. “Feels like years since I last went to school.” Jade responded with a snort. “Yeah, well, you’re probably not complaining.”  
“Hehe. Yeah.”

The two siblings settled into a comfortable silence, with nothing but the quiet chattering of the television, the soft, salty breeze and each other to keep them company.

**Author's Note:**

> end of chapter one  
> oh yeah there will be more to come


End file.
